Sliding closure



A. PlSTELLl SLIDING CLOSURE Aug. 4, 1959 Filed March 15, 1955 3 Shgets-Sheet 2 Aug. 4, 1959 A. PlSTELLl SLIDING CLOSURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 15, 1955 I sllll|lbiil"rliili Ii I III )rr 7 Fig. 7

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United States Patent SLIDING CLOSURE Alfio Pistelli, Milan, Italy Application March 15, 1955, Serial No. 494,391

Claims priority, application Italy March 16, 1954 3 Claims. (Cl. 160-33) It is the object of the present invention to provide a window or door whose main purpose is to give the rooms of residences, offices and works a great quantity of air and light adjustable at will, so as not to jeopardize the health of those that must live in them in winter as well as in summer time, especially on account of the fact that the low air currents can be eliminated without effecting the light traversing the window.

It is possible, with the new device according to the invention, to realize adjustable apertures even at the top most portions of the window or to free said apertures from the whole transparent surface when desirable, without having recourse to metal or wood frames with their consequent opening and shutting means. 7

The new device possesses all of the requisites for being practical and hygienical, especially in modern buildings in which the windows, doors and balconies are very large, though harmonizing with the lines of modern architecture.

Besides doing away with the heavy wooden frames supporting large glass or crystal plates and their shutting means, the costly maintenance necessary for keeping them eflicient and undeformable by the effect of the atmospheric agents is also eliminated.

Especially in workshops, hospitals, stores and ofiices which need plenty of air and light, the window or door according to the invention consents, by a simple operation, the regulation of the quantity of air without re ducing in the least the quantity of light.

The invention relates to. vertical crystal plates coming in contact with one another through a bevelled edge preventing the entrance of wind and rain.

The said crystal plates, slidable in a light stainless alloy side frame, are controlled by mechanical means, like those shown in an exemplifying but not limiting way by the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows the device assembled, with the plate carrying frame; i

Figs. 2a and 2b are sections of the assembly with the aperture shut ofi and partly open, respectively;

Fig. 3 is a particular of the slidable roller guide in a section on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the detail of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a particular of the plate collector;

Fig. 6 is a cross section of the detail of the slidable support with roller and double crystals in a modified execution of the device;

Fig. 7 shows another particular of a modified form of an aluminum H-shaped sheath.

The crystal plates a carry at their sides a light alloy sheath b. This sheath, to which the plate is bonded with a special cement, has a groove as wide as the plate is thick. The purpose of the sheath is to snugly slide within a rolled metal guide F fixed with screws to the steel frame G, walled in the window aperture. In the higher portion of the sheath a support C carrying a steel pin d is fixed, being slid through an opening in the link of a chain E which is driven by a toothed wheel H.

Patented Aug. 4, 195,9

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When the wheel H, driven by a transmission 1 turns, it carries along the chain E and consequently the crystal plates a fastened to the chain by the pin of the support so that between the first and second plate a space will be created equal to the difference between the lengths of the chains between the pins.

The above holds true for all of the crystal plates of each door or window, which leave an open space bctween each other to permit the entrance of air.

The transmission continuing to be rotated, all of the plates which already have the chain portions tightened between the pins will move upwards. When the chain will carry the pins to insert themselves into the toothed wheel H, they will move the crystal plates, which by their own weight remain vertical towards an inclined guide m.- I The said inclined guide, which has at one end a forked opening wherein enters the toothed wheel H, will take up the roller L of the pin d, which will slide to the lower end of the guide m.

The crystal plates, which are carried by the toothed wheel one at a time into the guide m, will assemble side by side in a restricted space. This space occupied by the plates is enclosed in a small wood or sheet metal case:

To shut the window it is necessary to operate in the opposite direction, and the plates, the last one of whichremainsin the guide F of the frame and under the toothed wheel H, will redescend into the guides and slide in them until such a time as the window will have been shut. a It is to be noticed that, once lowered, the plates can be locked through a safety lever whatever, not represented in the drawings, which will, by turning, arrange itself over the top plate at the two sides of the guides and prevent it from moving. a

The modified form shown in Fig. 6 contemplates the use of double crystal plates with an interspace giving protection from heat and cold. Said form is substantially constituted by a light alloy support snugly sliding in a rolled metal guide, attached by means of screws to the steel frame in the window aperture, and characterized by the fact that at the outside of the guide it projects with two sheaths spaced from one another and to which are bonded with a special cement twb crystal plates with an interposed air space, so as to realize an effective thermic. insulation, and inside of the guides it presents a slidable roller.

As is seen in the same Fig. 6, over the support 1, slidable Within the guide 2 fastened by screws to the frame 3, are mounted two sheaths 4 and 5 to which are respectively attached the crystal plates 6 and 7 spaced from one another by an air interspace 8.

Inside the guide 2 is arranged a roller 10.

In the constructional particular illustrated in Fig. 7, each crystal plate a presents at its lower horizontal border and H-shaped aluminum sheath 11 carrying a rubber gasket 12 fitting in the upper horizontal border of the subjacent plate at the moment of shuttering.

I claim:

1. A sliding closure for a window or door opening lying in a vertical plane, comprising a plurality of closure elements adapted to be arranged in the vertical plane of the opening one above the other in edge-to-edge relationship across the opening to close the latter, guide means extending along the opposite sides of the opening, pins projecting from the opposite ends of each closure element adjacent the upper edge of the latter and carrying rollers received in said guide means, so that each closure element is independently swingable about an axis defined by the related pins: and tends to assume a vertical positiondepending from said axis, and chains extending along said guide means at the opposite sides of the opening and connected to said pins of the closure elements at locations along the chains that are spaced apart by distances greater than the distance between said pins of adjacent closure elements when the latter are gravitationally urged into edge-to-edge contacting relationship so that, when said chains are tensioned upwardly, the successive closure elements are spaced apart, freeing the adjacent edges from each other to provide air admitting openings between the successive closure elements, and to permit swinging of the closure elements relative to each other about said axes defined by said pins thereof, the sliding closure; further comprising sprocket wheels at the upper ends of said guide means and having said chains thereon, means for rotating said sprocket wheels, and storage guides inclined downwardly from said sprocket wheels so that, when said sprocket wheels are rotated in the direction moving said chains upwardly along said guide means, the rollers of the successive closure elements pass from said guide means onto said downwardly inclined storage guides with the closure elements hanging vertically from the axes defined by the related pins for compact face-to-face storage along said inclined storage guides.

2. A sliding closure for a window or door opening lying in a vertical plane comprising a plurality of closure elements adapted to be arranged in the vertical plane of the opening one above the other in edge-to edge relationship across the opening to close the latter, guide means extending along the opposite sides of the opening, pins projecting from the opposite ends of each closure element adjacent the upper edge of the latter and carrying rollers received in said guide means, so that each closure element is independently swingable about an axis defined by the related pins and tends to assume a vertical position depending from said axis, and chains extending along said guide means at the opposite sides of the opening and connected to said pins of the closure elements at locations along the chains that are spaced apart by distances greater than the distance between said pins of adjacent closure elements when the latter are gravitationally urged into edge-to-edge contacting relationship so that, when said chains are tensioned upwardly, the successive closure elements are spaced apart, freeing the adjacent edges from each other to provide air admitting openings between the successive closure elements, and to permit swinging of the closure elements relative to each other about said axes defined by said pins thereof, in which sliding closure each of said closure elements has a downwardly opening channel extending along the lower edge thereof to receive the upper edge of the adjacent closure element when said elements extend across the opening and said chains are relaxed thereby to prevent relative swinging of said elements out of the vertical plane of the opening and to seal the adjacent edges of the closure elements relative to each other, said downwardly opening channel having a depth less than the spacing between the adjacent elements caused by tensioning of said chains so that, when the latter are tensioned, the upper edge of each element is freed from the channel of the element thereabove.

3. A sliding closure for a window or door opening lying in a vertical plane, comprising a plurality of closure elements adapted to be arranged in the vertical plane of the opening, one above the other in edge-to-edge relationship across the opening to close the latter, guide means extending along the opposite sides of the opening, pins projecting from the opposite ends of each closure element adjacent the upper edge of the latter and carrying rollers received in said guide means, so that each closure element is independently swingable about an axis defined by the related pins and tends to assume a vertical position depending from said axis, and chains extending along said guide means at the opposite sides of the opening and connected to said pins of the closure elements at locations along the chains that are spaced apart by distances greater than the distance between said pins of adjacent closure elements when the latter are gravitationally urged into edge-to-edge contacting relationship so that, when said chains are tensioned upwardly, the successive closure elements are spaced apart, freeing the adjacent edges from each other to provide air admitting openings between the successive closure elements, and to permit swinging of the closure elements relative to each other about said axes defined by said pins thereof, in which sliding closure each of said closure elements includes a pair of parallel, spaced apart glass plates, and metal support members embracing the opposite end edges of said plates and sealing the opposite ends of the space between the latter so that, when said elements are disposed in contacting edge-to-edge relationship in a vertical plane across the opening, the spaces between the glass plates of the several elements accommodate an insulating body of air.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,912,817 Bauer June 6, 1933 2,152,000 Stone Mar. 28, 1939 2,330,670 Black Sept. 28, 1943 2,586,561 Poggi Feb. 19, 1952 2,700,803 Graham Feb. 1, 1955 2,760,459 Kummerman Aug. 28, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 777,595 France Dec. 5, 1934 

